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Cloudflare TV

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Re: Cloudflare TV

#241
post #56

I'm a generally technical person and I'm simply flat out uninterested in video content - the stuff that will be on this sounds broadly interesting to me but I'd rather read it in article format. I understand video "performs" well in a lot of contexts (and thus is of particular interest to marketing people) but I am always surprised when content targeted broadly towards the technical community is done in a video-first…

I’m much the same ... and I’m saying that as someone who trained as a TV journalist, once hosted his own tv show, put out 134 weekly episodes of a business video series, and even now focuses on putting out 1-2 videos (on businesses As a creator, it’s laziness - I can produce a video in far less time than a quality article. As a consumer, I’ve started watching a few more video channels to learn from others - but would…

> As a creator, it’s laziness

You can see this when you watch a short video or segment and the presenter stammered or misspoke and they couldn't be arsed to just do another take to fix it. As someone who had a bad habit of not rehearsing presentations before giving them, I now can't unsee that bad habit in others.

Re: Cloudflare TV

#242
post #56

I'm a generally technical person and I'm simply flat out uninterested in video content - the stuff that will be on this sounds broadly interesting to me but I'd rather read it in article format. I understand video "performs" well in a lot of contexts (and thus is of particular interest to marketing people) but I am always surprised when content targeted broadly towards the technical community is done in a video-first…

Text is important because it’s searchable - the fascination with zoom and video/audio communication makes documenting and finding knowledge so much harder. This is a problem for me at work, too.

Also if you're going for text, please put IDs on all of your headings so I can bookmark the section I care about.

Thank you on behalf of everybody.

Re: Cloudflare TV

#244
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not OP, but I’d bet they meant that deaf or hard-of-hearing people should be able to enjoy the programs

> deaf or hard-of-hearing people should be able to enjoy the programs This is really important. I have moderate hearing loss but can hear 'okay' with a hearing aid. I place where I worked had a lot of mandatory training that involved video presentations. They introduced one new video and I realised that there was one bit where some important info (it was needed to pass the post video test) was only presented in spoke…

That sounds very frustrating. More frustrating than me explaining to senior mgmt why we need to spend money on a11y.

Your example is a great one, but aside from audio and visual problems, a11y covers things like cognitive deficits, which, for some, make watching and learning from videos difficult.

> I decided to make a fuss about this.

Good on you, more people need to be making a fuss about this.

I actually wrote Chris Croyier about a small snippet of example code on his site (CSS-Tricks) that didn't follow a11y best practices. He replied, and updated the code! Nice guy.

Re: Cloudflare TV

#245
post #56

I'm a generally technical person and I'm simply flat out uninterested in video content - the stuff that will be on this sounds broadly interesting to me but I'd rather read it in article format. I understand video "performs" well in a lot of contexts (and thus is of particular interest to marketing people) but I am always surprised when content targeted broadly towards the technical community is done in a video-first…

I've noticed certain communities that live on the edge of tech-savvy do this a lot. In particular emulator and jailbreak communities for video game consoles refuse to keep up-to-date text guides on things. Everything is done on YouTube which is such a terrible format when you need to follow 30-step lists and pause to click on many links throughout the process to download software, firmware and exploits.

Why do you expect better docs from free projects? You could certainly try to be the change you want to see, but you'll find it is not easy to create comprehensive documentation for these projects, and then dedicate yourself to keeping them up to date.

Re: Cloudflare TV

#246
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

len('accessibility') == 13 So a11y stands for "a word starting with 'a' then 11 letters then ending with 'y'". Compare to i18n, l10n.

The use of a11y-style acronyms fails for r9y reasons.

It sucks for onboarding new devs, but I've worked at companies where I did a11y audits for high-traffic e-commerce sites. The the amount of times I didn't have to type those extra 9 letters must have saved months of my life.

Re: Cloudflare TV

#247
post #154

The constant comparison with MTV is weird, but fun. Here is a proposed parallel grid: Next : tech job interviews. Bug raiders : bug fixing live. Pimp my web : Xzibit manages a team of front-end engineers. Jackass : Programming drones that do stupid things.

Compile'n Out: Improv coding and sketch comedy between developers golfing out code in hip cargo cult languages.

Startup Cribs: Come tour the sickest offices that venture capital money can buy.

Dev Moms: Women in tech share the struggle of being a woman in tech and also being a mother.

Re: Cloudflare TV

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed certain communities that live on the edge of tech-savvy do this a lot. In particular emulator and jailbreak communities for video game consoles refuse to keep up-to-date text guides on things. Everything is done on YouTube which is such a terrible format when you need to follow 30-step lists and pause to click on many links throughout the process to download software, firmware and exploits.

I think it has more to do with how close to the topic you are researching you already are. I had to fix the motor of my vacuum, for that I preferred a youtube tutorial because I want to see someone do the things I an about to do. If on the other hand I am trying to do something in Blender I usually prefer a text tutorial to get the exact bit of information I am looking for. Compare it to conventional teaching. You us…

I don't think it is just how close you are, but what you are doing. When doing engineering projects I still like to see what someone is doing because there tends to be things that they do that aren't discussed and change how things work. You also can learn neat little tricks this way too.

But code, I generally like reading because most of it is abstract and in your head anyways. So I think the best media depends on what you're doing and what type of learner you are.

I'll add that sometimes I read a dozen articles and just don't get it. Then I watch an OCW and everything just clicks. The reverse also happens. Sometimes you just need a different format and/or a different voice. More options only helps.

Re: Cloudflare TV

#249

> I keep reminding our team that if we're trying to follow in the footsteps of MTV — and its greatest success was "Jersey Shore" — then the bar is pretty low. Sounds like they need a few more GenX's on their team to help them understand the real impact MTV had. I'm struggling to see a world where CFTV has even half the cultural or generational impact that MTV had. You may not respect or value what MTV has become, but…

Thanks for pointing this out. A disrespect for their predecessors inclines me to believe CloudfareTV is just another corporate vanity project.

Re: Cloudflare TV

#250
post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed certain communities that live on the edge of tech-savvy do this a lot. In particular emulator and jailbreak communities for video game consoles refuse to keep up-to-date text guides on things. Everything is done on YouTube which is such a terrible format when you need to follow 30-step lists and pause to click on many links throughout the process to download software, firmware and exploits.

Why do you expect better docs from free projects? You could certainly try to be the change you want to see, but you'll find it is not easy to create comprehensive documentation for these projects, and then dedicate yourself to keeping them up to date.

That's fair actually. I should appreciate that these people are all doing this on their spare time. I had considered updating a GH repo with what I learned about the Switch Android install process but was quite exhausted after spending the full day finding and implementing the up to date YouTube guide.

I'm sure that's the case for many people. There's also a much broader audience of people who want to do these jailbreaks than programmers who are used to reading documentation. I imagine videos are drastically more accessible for them.

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